Skip to main content

PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Utah

1 persistent-poverty county

Utah has 1 persistent-poverty counties and 20 nonmetro counties — home to 14,466 residents living in counties with 30+ years of 20%-or-higher poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 8.6% and child poverty is 8.9%.

1

Persistent-poverty counties

20

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

14K

Residents in PPCs

29

Total counties

Utah by county

← Back to national atlas

Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

Loading county map…

Lower
Higher

Utah at a glance

Poverty rate

8.6%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

8.9%

Under 18

PPC share

3.5%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

69.0%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

1.80

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.22

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Utah's 60 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 29 in Utah.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 San Juan 0.67
  2. 2 Emery 0.35
  3. 3 Garfield 0.34
  4. 4 Piute 0.34
  5. 5 Daggett 0.34

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 San Juan 18.4%
  2. 2 Grand 17.0%
  3. 3 Carbon 16.8%
  4. 4 Sanpete 15.3%
  5. 5 Iron 13.6%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

  1. 1 San Juan 18.4%

Every county in Utah

All 29 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Beaver 9 — — 7.5% 7.5% 7,172 0.33
Box Elder 4 — — 8.6% 8.8% 59,725 0.15
Cache 3 — — 13.1% 12.9% 137,031 0.13
Carbon 7 — Housing 16.8% 19.6% 20,446 0.29
Daggett 9 — — 10.1% 4.7% 747 0.34
Davis 2 — — 6.0% 7.4% 366,742 0.06
Duchesne 7 — — 13.3% 16.9% 19,932 0.28
Emery 9 — — 11.3% 18.1% 9,968 0.35
Garfield 9 — — 11.1% 6.2% 5,170 0.34
Grand 7 — Housing 17.0% 19.4% 9,697 0.29
Iron 4 — Retire. 13.6% 12.3% 60,201 0.17
Juab 2 — — 9.0% 11.4% 12,273 0.07
Kane 8 — — 10.4% 12.5% 7,996 0.30
Millard 9 — — 8.8% 10.7% 13,179 0.34
Morgan 2 — — 1.7% 1.3% 12,585 0.04
Piute 9 — Retire. 11.1% 8.9% 1,705 0.34
Rich 8 — Retire. 9.5% 8.1% 2,588 0.30
Salt Lake 1 — Housing 8.4% 9.1% 1,184,689 0.03
San Juan 9 Yes Housing 18.4% 19.7% 14,466 0.67
Sanpete 6 — — 15.3% 19.6% 29,209 0.25
Sevier 7 — — 10.5% 10.9% 21,854 0.27
Summit 4 — — 4.5% 3.9% 42,709 0.13
Tooele 1 — — 4.7% 4.7% 76,648 0.02
Uintah 7 — — 11.1% 12.0% 36,458 0.27
Utah 2 — — 8.7% 7.2% 683,622 0.07
Wasatch 4 — Housing, Retire. 5.1% 6.1% 35,808 0.13
Washington 3 — Housing, Retire. 9.9% 12.2% 189,827 0.11
Wayne 9 — — 9.1% 8.0% 2,557 0.34
Weber 2 — — 7.5% 8.7% 266,183 0.07

Find a food pantry in Utah

Search Utah's 60 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Utah pantry directory

Utah SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

Utah SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

Utah food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology